Police in the United States fatally shot 987 people in 2017, The Washington Post reported Friday.
White males accounted for 44 percent of those who were shot, black men were 22 percent of the total, and Hispanic males accounted 18 percent of the shootings, the data showed.
Out of the 987 that were killed, 735 were armed with a knife or a gun.
"Our officers are in 1.5 million volatile encounters a year, so shooting someone is an incredibly rare event. Yet we pull each instance apart and see what factors might have played a role and train our officers to make that rare event even more rare," said Los Angeles Police Department Assistant Chief Michael Moore.
Fewer police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2017 with 46 in 2017, a decline from 66 in 2016, according to the report.
The number of unarmed black males who were killed in police shootings was 19 in 2017. In 2015, police shot and killed 36 unarmed black men.
The number of unarmed people shot by the police declined in the Post's data — from 94 in 2015 to 68 in 2017.
"The national spotlight on this issue has made officers more cautious in unarmed situations," said Chuck Wexler, Police Executive Research Forum executive director.
Mental health played a prominent role in a number of the shootings, with 236 of the total, about 1 in 4, being described as being in mental distress at the time of the incident, The Post reported.
The number was 23 more than the 963 that police fatally shot in 2016, according to the Post's database.
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